After a last hurrah with our new youngster friends, I got up early preparing to drive nearly 800km to a farm-stay that we had booked into.I tried to wake Antony but he was still heavy with sleep and boozy, it's fair to say.I went down stairs and found Gavin, the 18 yr old who had stayed up drinking with Antony, and he was fresh as a daisy.Eventually the old man stumbled downstairs and seeing the young whipper-snapper made him feel even more hung-over (and quite o...

As we left Byron Bay a small group of grey clouds peeled off the mass in our rear view mirror and escorted us north towards Fraser Island. As we drove they gradually gathered friends and grow darker so we finally pulled into our destination under a thick blanket of rain, not a promising sign for three days and two nights under the sun and stars. The trip briefing that evening cheered us up as our new pals seemed to be as optimistic and clueless as us about what e...

We left Sydney and began our Australian adventure in earnest, renting a car for nearly four weeks with the plan of driving up the east coast.Before setting off, we checked the bank balance and our fears were confirmed that our original budget wasn't going to cut it in Australia and New Zealand. But this minor budgetary crisis did introduce a new concept into our trip, which will most likely become a recurring theme - shared bathrooms. With this in mind, we starte...

Xmas over we had one day of relaxation on the beach to recover from our excesses and then we went straight into preparation for our weekend on the Hawkesbury river before New Year rolled in. Before we left though we went for a short swim in the North Sydney Olympic pool which is in the shadow of the harbour bridge (see the photos for the amazing view). Rachelle refereed children's handstand and touching the bottom competitions while I managed a magnificent 10 len...

Christmas in Australia was weird and wonderful.The weather has been warm with clear skies. This coupled with the amazing sandy beaches and dark blue water seems the furthest thing from winter holidays. Whilst Singapore was decked out in extravagant Christmas decorations, Australia is more understated.To be more precise, there are almost no signs of Christmas on the street or in people's homes.Christmas seems more like a good excuse to get a couple of days off and...